Pajaro Valley school board votes to cut nearly 160 jobs, more than 40 in special education, during stormy meeting

The Pajaro Valley Unified School District governing board approved nearly 160 layoffs, including all of the district’s 13 mental health clinicians, dozens of teachers and more than 40 special education positions, during a tumultuous six-hour meeting Thursday night.

The board also elected Carol Turley and Joy Flynn as its new board president and vice president, respectively – after 1½ hours of contentious debate among the trustees and the public. At one point, the discussion for a new president was recessed for about five minutes after a parent accused a relative of a board member of sexual misconduct.

The chaos endured through the final 20 minutes of the meeting in the Watsonville City Council chambers, when Turley cleared the room after she repeatedly told the crowd to stop interrupting the meeting. By citing the disturbances, Turley had the authority to remove the 40 or so people still present for the rest of the meeting – according to the district’s counsel – which included a vote on half of the layoffs, part of a strategy to solve the district’s $15.3 million budget deficit. When the attendees realized while standing in the hallway outside the meeting room that the vote occurred without their public comment, they said they were outraged and devastated. 

Aptos High School students Abigail Anderson and June Zelmon stayed for the whole meeting to speak out against the layoff of a choir teacher, but weren’t able to after the room was cleared. They both said they’ll leave the district if they lose their choir program. 

“It’s been like my only outlet,” said Zelmon. “When I was in my darkest places at the end of last year and also at the beginning of this year, it was one of the only things that helped me, along with the mental health clinicians.” 

Aptos High choir teacher Jessalynn Levine told Lookout she’s not sure what the layoff will mean for the program, but that district officials have said they’ll ensure the choir program continues. 

Many of the comments Thursday night from parents, teachers, therapists and students echoed similar feelings: that these cuts will harm students’ well-being. In addition to students like Anderson and Zelmon, many others spoke in support of the district’s mental health clinicians, counselors and teachers for the crucial emotional support they provide. Students talked about losing friends to suicide and struggling with mental health challenges themselves. Parents, staff members and teachers also urged the district not to make any cuts to special education positions, arguing that the district already isn’t providing the required level of services. 

Jessica Showalter, a teacher at Watsonville High, said behavior technicians are essential for saving lives and keeping students and staff safe. She teaches classes that serve students with emotional disturbances or other disabilities with serious challenges. She said behavior technicians in those classes have helped save people’s lives, for example, when a student took an employee hostage, or when a student had a butcher knife, or when technicians provided support after a sexual assault. 

“It’s my [behavior technicians] that go in there, save that person’s life,” Showalter said. “You take that [behavior technician] away, please explain what happens?”

The board approved – by majority votes – two lists of layoffs: one for classified workers and another for certificated. Classified employees include mental health clinicians and counselors, while certificated include all staff with a teaching credential.

Trustee Daniel Dodge Jr. voted no on both, while Trustee Gabe Medina voted no on classified layoffs and left the room during the vote on the certificated layoffs. The remaining trustees voted in support of the layoffs with minimal to no discussion on the items.

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